RE: Volvo V90: Review

[peter450]

DegsyE39 said:

Trabi601 said:

DegsyE39 said:

I doesnt bother me as such im just suprised that volvo have fitted what seems to be a goliath of a car with what is going to be a highly stressed not that adequate engine (in this version which isnt a hybrid) that even the reviewer admits lacks "smoothness and refinement'' in what purports to be a luxury car. Wouldnt be an issue if it was a fiesta for popping to the shops but its almost £50k...

An xc90 drove past me about a month back actually and ive got to agree with the article as it sounded very strained... especially lugging such a large chunk of metal , Sounded like it was going to pop ( the thing was the size of a frigate mind) so the emissions might not be as rosy as they seem.

I drive a 520d. It's smooth, refined, quiet, and never feels stressed.

Many people seem to be very reactionary about the idea of a 4 pot turbo without having much experience of modern engines and cars.

I dint say it lacked smoothness and refinement the chap reviewing it did, Im not saying that modern four pot engines are crap.. Im saying that in this instance a 6 pot would be markedly better

I havent driven one granted, But the anguished cry of the one that drove past me told me all i need to know.

I don't know why anyone would be that fussed about the number of cylinders in a derv

[Rammy76]

peter450 said:

I don't know why anyone would be that fussed about the number of cylinders in a derv

I am for one. Having owned a 4 cylinder VAG diesel that was gruff and sounded like a tractor to having the Volvo 5 cylinder is a world of difference. The Volvo engine is much smoother and even at idle sounds far more refined. The extra cylinder helps massively.

[DegsyE39]

Im smoking around in a 4 pot derv at the minute ironically.. but its coarse its gruff and it sounds ste its great for a workhorse a tip car etc. but imho 4 pot diesels arent at home in a £50k car

Its just my opinion and everyones entitled to theirs, I know eventually everyone is going to be in EV's or whatever, but it's the first good looking car volvo have made in an age.. I just cant help thinking it would be worthy of a proper engine?

Again all just IMHO no offence aimed at the owners!

Regards.

[novus]

Jimmy Recard said:

Admittedly this has some stupid options, but I was messing around on the Audi website a few weeks ago...

Jesus....

[RemarkLima]

Blackbird425 said:

vikingaero said:

But we all lease/pcp don't we?

It always amazes me how many of these £40k plus motors you see about. Whichever way you look at it that's a st load of money for a daily driver. I do count beans for a living but the thought of some ropey easy payment plan on this or the equivalent Beemer, audi, Merc etc sends shivers down my spine.

I think the same, but then have friends who no nothing about cars, and some how keep racking £1k + bills so have gone to leasing, ~£300 a month, and never have to worry about a bill again, all warrantied, servicing included, never buy tyres again etc... If it's a white good I can see the appeal.

These would be more like £400 a month, which I think is madness, but it's all part of the "spend your entire income every month" mindset

[TazLondon]

This looks quite nice and is probably very comfortable. Could make a good used buy after a few years for someone looking for a motorway mile-muncher.

The pricing appears to be very steep - something I've seen with most cars cars these days. Perhaps it s a ploy by manufacturers to force you down the lease/PCP route?

[Axionknight]

These look smashing IMO and whilst it might not be a great drive that isn't really what it is for, I'd expect it to be a competent and affable family car or motorway cruiser.

I would certainly consider it against its rivals as I have had two modern Volvos (a C30 and V40) and both were excellent in terms of ownership, couldn't fault either of them!

Edited by Axionknight on Tuesday 28th June 08:16

[em177]

Axionknight said:

whilst it might not be a great drive

I think that's a very subjective thing, it probably is a great drive for what it was designed to do.

I'd far rather have one of these to use daily and an Elise for weekends than say an M4 which tries to do both jobs but simply isn't as effective at either.

Sorry that's a pointless tangent, however I feel the current trend for 'sporty' S-Line/M-Sport Diesels is mental, great handling cars they are not, I'd far rather have an SE spec with a creamy engine.

[patmahe]

Best looking car in that class by a mile, would be fantastically comfortable and pleasant place to be too

[Theophany]

Jimmy Recard said:

Do we know just why it has such little space?

Because it has a whacking great transverse leaf spring suspension.

[anonymous-user]

Yummy.

[Burnham]

That looks great, a modern take on the traditional Volvo. I really like the interior, they've done a good job on that too.

[richinlondon]

My 2003 S60R was a fabulous car. Extremely well engineered, a blast to drive fast (especially in Advanced mode) and excellent in snow. Nobody really knew what it was too so a proper Q-car.

[mcbook]

I'd like to know more about the leaf spring arrangement. I've heard other reviews say it was done for packaging reasons but this doesn't seem to add up. Why exactly are they using a leaf spring and what benefits does it bring? Other than encouraging owners to opt for the air suspension!

Also, most reviews seem to be of the D5 model. Surely the D4 will be the big seller so let's see some reviews of that. Only providing D5s with air suspension tell me that Volvo is worried about the D4 running the leaf spring.

[T1berious]

I quite like it,

There's a refreshing honesty about a load lugger that doesn't try to pretend to be handy round the nordschleife.

And as much as I'd like an AMG load lugger, I wonder if the reality would be 10% of the time I'd love and the rest of the time I'd rather drive something less frantic.

Well done Volvo for going your own way.

I hope it translates into sales.

T1b

[Jimmy Recard]

mcbook said:

I'd like to know more about the leaf spring arrangement. I've heard other reviews say it was done for packaging reasons but this doesn't seem to add up. Why exactly are they using a leaf spring and what benefits does it bring? Other than encouraging owners to opt for the air suspension!

Also, most reviews seem to be of the D5 model. Surely the D4 will be the big seller so let's see some reviews of that. Only providing D5s with air suspension tell me that Volvo is worried about the D4 running the leaf spring.

It's not leaf springs like on a lorry or a pickup.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette_leaf_spri...

[mcbook]

Jimmy Recard said:

It's not leaf springs like on a lorry or a pickup.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette_leaf_spri...

I knew it wasn't the traditional leaf spring but wasn't sure exactly how it worked... that was a great article. So it seems that even though the leaf spring allows for a wider, flatter load area, the boot is still comparatively small. Must be down to the sloping boot line or maybe more space allowed for rear seat passengers.

I've just specced a nice D4 Inscription with metallic paint, family pack and winter pack. Total after discount comes to £36,500. The basic spec is really amazing on these and I think £36,500 is a pretty good deal.

[NAD33M]

Blackbird425 said:

£44k for a 2.0 litre diesel estate. My word, new cars have got expensive.

Yeah, but it will only be £XXX a month....

[JD]

Jimmy Recard said:

Do we know just why it has such little space?

Probably becuase they will be putting this under the boot floor:

[Jimmy Recard]

JD said:

Probably becuase they will be putting this under the boot floor:

Yep, that would do it. I managed to miss that there is a hybrid version